Scope - Our Job Protections

Date:
August 1, 2016
Type:
AFA Article

Scope language is the heart of any agreement as it defines our work and our right to it.

The Tentative Agreement strengthens scope for all Flight Attendants because we put together the best provisions from the United and Continental contracts. We took successorship language from the CAL agreement and the Scope language from the UAL agreement.

Flight Attendants on Our Seniority List

This Tentative Agreement includes the pre-merger UAL scope language, which is industry-leading and provides all work “customarily and traditionally performed” must be done by Flight Attendants on the AFA seniority list.

Worldwide Scope

The Company proposed to use the scope language from the CAL agreement which would only apply the contract to the United States and its territories. This means in locations outside the United States and Guam the Company would have unlimited ability to hire foreign nationals. The JNC rejected that and the TA includes worldwide coverage with strict limitations on the numbers and routes foreign nationals can work. Further, it requires termination of any foreign nationals prior to any type of furlough, including voluntary furlough, of a Flight Attendant on the AFA seniority list. Under this strong language, there are no foreign nationals working at United today.

No Flying by Subsidiaries

The Tentative Agreement prohibits the company from operating flying by subsidiaries who are not on the United Flight Attendant seniority list. That means no shifting of work to other carriers or dividing the work group by setting up subsidiaries such as the former CMI. Pre-merger Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants will gain the job security protections of the joint contract for United Airlines Flight Attendants and the merged seniority list.

Strong Successorship Language

The Tentative Agreement incorporates the strong successorship language from the CAL Agreement which obligates the company to bind any successor employer to this agreement and provides strong procedural protections.

CMI Flight Attendants Will Become United Employees

The JNC was unified that the company agree to the longstanding demand to make Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants employees of United Airlines.

Questions and Answers

Q: What about the failed Aer Lingus operation from IAD-MAD? How did that happen with these scope protections?

A: The Aer Lingus operation was a joint venture with United Airlines and operated with Aer Lingus metal. United did not have a controlling interest in the joint venture. While we fought this joint venture in Congress, the failed business model did not succeed and ultimately cancelled.

Q: If the Tentative Agreement passes and the merged seniority list is implemented, will the company be able to assign Flight Attendants to work aircraft assigned to a different subsidiary prior to integration?

A: No. Flight Attendants must all be on one crew management system (CMS) in order to be assigned to all of the aircraft in United’s fleet.

The Protocol and Related Agreements Letter of Agreement (commonly referred to as the “Metal Agreement”) states:

“United Flight Attendants, Continental Flight Attendants and Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants will not be interchanged between the operation of the respective airlines."

The Tentative Agreement includes a Letter of Agreement that provides for a swap of aircraft once the first three 777-300 aircraft are delivered, which is expected by March 2017. At that point the three 787’s currently flying as pre-merger United metal will be swapped for the three 777-300’s. This will allow for more efficient scheduling of the aircraft fleets, thus creating more flight hours for both the pre-merger United and Continental Flight Attendants.

This aircraft swap Letter of Agreement also reinforces the fact that the metal assigned to pre-merger Flight Attendant operations will continue to be scheduled according to the “Metal Agreement” in place since the beginning of the merger.

The separate subsidiary flying will end with the implementation of a common scheduling platform.